Taylor Sheridan Says His ‘Sicario’ Sequel ‘Soldado’ ‘Makes the First One Look Like a Comedy’

The screenwriter's sensibilities haven't gotten any more delicate.

Taylor Sheridan just made his directorial debut with “Wind River” after making a name for himself as a screenwriter in recent years with the likes of “Hell or High Water” (for which he received an Oscar nomination) and “Sicario.” Now the latter is getting a sequel in “Soldado,” which Sheridan will likewise write (but which original director Denis Villeneuve will not return for). Speaking to Collider, the actor-turned-screenwriter-turned-director says this second chapter will be even darker than the first — in fact, “it makes the first one look like a comedy.”

“When I told them I would write it, they asked for the traditional studio call and the outline and all that, and I said, ‘No, no, no, guys. The first one was original. I’m just going to go away and I’m going to come back with it and there you go,” says Sheridan. “And they trusted me to do that, and then read it and were like, ‘Ah, shit. We’re in a lot of trouble.’ It makes the first one look like a comedy. Yeah. I’m not the guy to ask to write a sequel.”

“Sicario” wasn’t exactly light viewing — it begin with the discovery of numerous dead bodies inside the walls of a house — so who knows how dark this sequel might be. Emily Blunt won’t return for “Soldado,” though Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro will; joining them will be Catherine Keener, Isabela Moner, and Matthew Modine. Stefano Sollima will direct “Soldado,” which has yet to receive a release date.